Asiya: Difference between revisions

'''Āsīya''' (Arabic: {{ia|آسیة}}) was the wife of [[Pharaoh]] and the daughter of Muzahim b. 'Ubayd who played a role in taking the Prophet [[Moses (a)]] out of the [[Nile]] River. She is admired in the [[Qur'an]] and [[hadith]]s. In some [[Shiite]] hadiths, she is referred to as [[Khadija bt. Khuwaylid]]'s companion in the [[Heaven]].

Asiya was the daughter of Muzahim b. 'Ubayd and the wife of Pharaoh.<ref>Ibn al-Athīr, ''al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh'', vol. 1, p. 169.</ref> According to some sources, she was an [[Israelite]].<ref>Ibn Kathīr, ''al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 1, p. 239.</ref> And some sources considered her as Moses's (a) paternal aunt.<ref>Kāshānī, ''Khulāṣat al-Manhaj'', vol. 4, p. 152.</ref>

Asiya's name does not appear in the Qur'an, but [[exegetes]] have taken "the wife of Pharaoh" which has occurred twice in the Qur'an to refer to Asiya. According to the verse 9 of [[Qur'an 28]], when the baby Moses (a) was taken out of the river, Asiya was there and encouraged the Pharaoh to keep him alive.<ref>Qummī, ''Tafsīr Qummī'', vol. 2, p. 135.</ref> Moreover, Asiya is admired in the verse 11 of [[Qur'an 66]] (as believing in [[God]] despite her companionship with the Pharaoh), in contrast to the wives of [[Noah (a)]] and [[Lot (a)]], who were [[infidel]]s despite their companionship with prophets.<ref>Ṭabāṭabāʾī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 19, p. 344.</ref> According to this latter verse, Asiya asked God to give her a house in the Heaven and save her from the Pharaoh and the cruel people.<ref>Qurʾān, 66:11.</ref>

The [[Shi'a]]s have appealed to Asiya's secret faith and worships to demonstrate the permissibility of [[taqiyya]] (precautionary dissimulation).{{cn}}

Some hadiths have referred to Asiya as one of the four superior women of the world along with [[Maryam bt. 'Imran]], [[Khadija bt. Khuwaylid|Khadija]], and [[Fatima al-Zahra (a)]].<ref>Suyūṭī, ''al-Durr al-manthūr'', vol. 3, p. 23.</ref> According to [['Allama Tabataba'i]], the fact that they are superior to all women in the world does not contradict the belief that one of them is even more superior than the others.<ref>Ṭabāṭabāʾī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 3, p. 215.</ref> According to some other hadiths, Fatima al-Zahra (a) was superior to the other three.<ref>Suyūṭī, ''al-Durr al-manthūr'', vol. 3, p. 23; </ref> He also appealed to hadiths according to which people in the period of Fatima al-Zahra (a) were more civilized and mature than people of the other periods to show the superiority of Fatima (a).<ref>Ṭabāṭabāʾī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 3, p. 215.</ref> Some [[Sunni]] scholars, such as al-Alusi, have appealed to a hadith from [[Prophet Muhammad (s)]] to show the superiority of Fatima (a) over other women. According to this hadith, "Fatima is part of my body." Al-Alusi argues that since Fatima (a) is part of the Prophet's (s) being, and since the Prophet (s) is the most superior creature, then Fatima (a) is also the most superior.<ref>Ālūsī, ''Rūḥ al-maʿānī'', vol. 2, p. 149-150.</ref>

According to a hadith from [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]], which is cited in some Shiite sources of hadiths, when Fatima (a) was born, the [[Quraysh]] women left [[Khadija (a)]] alone. So, God sent women from the Heaven to Khadija (a), including Maryam and Asiya. In some hadiths, Asiya is referred to as a companion of Khadija (a) in the Heaven.<ref>Ṣadūq, ''al-Amālī'', p. 593-594; Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 16, p.80-81.</ref> According to another hadith, when Khadija (a) died, Fatima (a) constantly longed for her mother. Thus, the Prophet (s) showed her the place of Khadija (a) in the [[Heaven]] besides Maryam and Asiya.<ref>Ṭūsī, ''al-Amālī'', p. 175.</ref>

*Qurʾān.

*Ālūsī, Sayyid Maḥmūd al-. ''Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm''. Edited by ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Bārī ʿAṭīyya. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1415 AH.

*Ḥaskānī, ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh al-.''Shawāhid al-tanzīl li-qawāʿid al-tanzīl''. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Maḥmūdī. Tehran: Majmaʿ Iḥyāʾ al-Thiqāfat al-Islāmī, 1411 AH.

*Ibn al-Athīr, ʿAlī b. Abī l-Karam. ''Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh''. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir, 1385 AH.

*Ibn Kathīr al-Dimashqī, Ismāʿīl b. ʿUmar. ''Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya''. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1407AH-1986.

*Kāshānī, Mullā Fatḥ Allāh al-. ''Khulāṣat al-Manhaj''. Edited by Abū l-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Islāmīyyah, 1373 AH.

*Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. ''Biḥār al-anwār al-jāmiʿa li-durar akhbār al-aʾimmat al-aṭhār''. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.

*Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. ''Tafsīr al-Qummī''. Edited by Ṭayyib Mūsawī Jazāʾrī.  Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1404 AH.

*Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. ''Al-Amālī''. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1376 Sh.

*Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. ''Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-maʾthūr''. Qom: Maktabaṭ Āyat Allāh al-Marʿashī, 1404 AH.

*Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. ''Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān''. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1374 Sh.

*Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. ''Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān''. Third edition. Tehran: Naṣir Khusraw, 1372 Sh.

*Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. ''Al-Amālī''. Qom: Dār al-Thiqāfa, 1414 AH.

*[https://aspb1.cdn.asset.aparat.com/aparat-video/ad192f1d20567a0e45213e6e5c3e9ee77110011-300p.mp4  The life story of Asieh, Pharaoh's wife, with Persian subtitles]